Simon BrookeMay 10

We all know that #ScottishLabour are much closer to the #SNP on policies than they are to #UKLabour. So would it be a good thing for Scotland if SNP/ScotLab were to agree a coalition deal in which:

1. ScotLab would support the call for #IndyRef2, but would not necessarily campaign for #ScottishIndependence and
2. ScotLab would get the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, with a remit to nationalise Scotland's buses?

#ScotPol

Yes, Coalition
0%
Yes, but Confidence & Supply
13%
No, no deal with the hated enemy
34.8%
Three way coalition with Greens as well
52.2%
Poll ended at .
Show threadkat donegan (she/her) 🇵🇸✊
@simon_brooke why would they need to go into a coalition with labour when the greens are right there & are more natural allies?
May 11 at 8:35amWeb
Show threadSimon Brooke6d ago

@kathimmel Because #Oil. Stephen Flynn has promised the oil and gas industry in Scotland glory days ahead. That's incompatible with a survivable planet, and if @ScottishGreens were to go into coalition without a clear statement that the SNP utterly reject Flynn's stance and stand by all their existing #ClimateChange commitments, they would betray us all.

Independence on a dead planet would be a very hollow victory.

#ThereIsNoEconomyOnADeadPlanet
#ClimateEmergency

https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/north-sea/597213/stephen-flynn-aberdeen-oil-and-gas-holyrood/

Show threadkat donegan (she/her) 🇵🇸✊6d ago
@simon_brooke @ScottishGreens ah, i thought there must have been some development about which i was unaware. yeah, that's bad.
Show threadkat donegan (she/her) 🇵🇸✊6d ago
@simon_brooke @ScottishGreens flynn isn't first minister, though, so we'll see.
Show threadChip Butty6d ago

@simon_brooke @kathimmel they are going to go as a minority gov't and make deals based on what they want (so they can get Labour/Tories/Reform/LDs to support any gas/oil stuff, or Greens if they want to do something renewable). They are in a pretty good position to do what they want by figuring out who will support a particular thing.

I wonder which party is the best at making deals and getting what they want? Labour has seemed to be the worst of it (IIRC they supported the last budget w/o getting any concessions) and the Greens seem to be the best at it (they certainly make a lot of noise about the things the get from the SNP)

Show threadSimon Brooke6d ago
@otfrom @kathimmel as I replied to @drgeraint, that's a good strategy provided they have no plans for #ScottishIndependence. If they want an #IndyRef2, though, they need leverage at #Westminster, which ad hoc policy-by-policy deals won't win them.
Show threadChip Butty6d ago
@simon_brooke @kathimmel @drgeraint when do they need to get everything lined up if they want to do independence in this Holyrood parliament?
Show threadSimon Brooke6d ago

@otfrom @kathimmel @drgeraint they can't do #ScottishIndependence in this #Holyrood term unless either

1. They can get the cooperation of Westminster; or
2. They go for an extra-parliamentary strategy — civil disobedience, switching off the cross-border interconnector, national strikes, et cetera.

They will do neither.

/Continued

Show threadSimon Brooke6d ago

@otfrom @kathimmel @drgeraint calling for #ScottishIndependence is something which #SNP politicians now do with all the heartfelt enthusiasm, passion and sincerity which their #UKLabour counterparts show towards singing The Red Flag.

https://youtu.be/702XFFqZcq0?si=zZM71Y1I1DrhiIMa

Blair, Brown, and Prescott sing the Red Flag at Labour Conference

YouTube
Show threadChip Butty6d ago

@simon_brooke @kathimmel @drgeraint I do think the more interesting questions are, who will the new leader be and when?

I always thought Swinney was the compromise placeholder FM while we waited for Flynn and others to come back from Westminster

Show threadEstarriol, Terrorist Dragon6d ago

@otfrom @simon_brooke @kathimmel

just remember in Scotland the tories and labour will join up as one if the opponent is the SNP.... Because neither give a fook about scotland unless westminster leaders sanction it.

Show threadrooftopjaxx6d ago
@simon_brooke @kathimmel How did the previous arrangement with the Greens break down, was that over oil too?
Show threadSimon Brooke6d ago

@rooftopjaxx @kathimmel it was over testosterone poisoned tribalists in the SNP wanting to say 'we don't need any support from those pansies over there.'

I think Humza Yousaf was a better First Minister than we give him credit for, but that was a phenomenally stupid thing to do.

Show threadLeif6d ago

@simon_brooke @kathimmel
Flynn did give himself an out in saying he would be a champion for the _workers_ in that industry, not the industry itself.

I mean, his comments about "green hydrogen" and carbon capture shows who he's in bed with, but such alliances can be broken when politically expedient.